Rail grinding machine



RAIL GRINDING MACHINE Lf i, H III il 1N ENToR:

A TTORNEYS.

A. s. KALENBORN RAIL GRINDINCLMACHINE March 3, 1936.

Filed Jan. 13, 1950 2 Sheets-shewl 2 m W 1J@ A g l kxNa "555:1 f/l; l?)[l] f l a m x H N IV-LI N Q1 l g1) INVENToR:

r/'on ..5 fa/enorn BY m MJ ATTORNEYS. .l

Patented Mal'. 3, 1936 "2' UNITED A sTATEs ya y 2,032,419

PATENT OFFICE RAIL GRINDING MACHINE 1 Arion 4S.'Kalenbom, Redwood City,Calif., as-

signor to Welding Service, Inc., San Francisco,

Calif., a corporation of California Application January 13, 1930, SerialNo. 420,351

2 Claims. (o1. 51-178) This invention relates .generally to machines; orapparatus for performing certain specic grinding operations upon therails of railway tracks.

5 In the maintenance of railway tracksit has been found highly desirableto provide transverse slots at the rail joints, these slots extendingdownwardly from the upper faces of the rail balls. A rail joint of thischaracter isl disclosed and Vclaimed lo in patent toy McClary, No.1,752,566, dated April 1, 1930. While the advantages of such a railjoint construction are fully set forth insaid McClary patent, it maybriefly be explained that such a slot provided in a rail joint providesa spaceinto which metal will flow thus preventing chipping thru relativemovement between the adjacent rail ends.

It is an object of the present invention to devise a practical machinewhich will make possible rapid slotting of the rails at the rail jointswith a minimum amount of time and labor.

It is a further object of the invention to devise a machine of the abovecharacter which will be simple inconstruction, relatively cheap tomanufacture, and which can be manipulated by a single operator.

It is another object of the invention to devise a machine of the abovecharacter which can operate upon both rails of a railway track withoutthe necessity of reversing the position of the frame of the machine.

Further objects of the invention will appear from the followingdescription in which I have set forth the preferred embodiment of myinvention. It is to be understood that the appended claims are to beaccorded a range of equivalents consistent with the state of the priorart.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan view illustrating a machine incorporating the presentinvention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the machine shown in Figure 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail, partly in cross section, illustrating themanner in which my machine makes possible cutting a transverse slot in arail at a rail joint.

Fig. 4 is a side elevational View of a rail joint illustrating themanner in which the slot is formed.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a rail-joint after the slot has been formed.

My invention can be outlined briefly as comprising a suitable cuttingtool, such as a grind wheel, which is carried by a suitable frame andconstrained to move in such a manner as to cut a transverse slot in arail. Thus referring to Figs. 1 an-d 2, I have shown a suitable frame I0adapted to be disposed upon the rails and I2, of a railway track. Inthis instance the frame is formed by longitudinal members I4 connectedtogether by the end members I6. Frame Ill may be provided with wheelsfor operating upon the tracks I I and I2 but for simplicity it has beenshown as resting directly upon the rails, so that in moving the machinefrom one joint to another, it is simply slid 10 upon the rails.Depending lugs I'I can be provided for retaining the frame in properoperating position.

Disposed upon the frame I0 in such a manner that it can be shiftedtransversely of the track, I 15 provide a suitable carriage I9. Thiscarriage can be conveniently formed of upright spaced side members 2|,having their upper portions interconnected by members 22. The lowerportions of side members 2| are connected to members 23, 20 which can beconveniently formed as angles, which serve to track the carriage uponthe longitudinal frame members I4.

The cutting tool or grind wheel 26 is normally restrained to move in asubstantially vertical 25 plane, or in other words in a planesubstantially at right angles to the rails. While various means may beutilized for effecting vertical adjustment of grind wheel 26, in thisinstance I utilize a swinging or pivoted arm structure 21, to which 30grind wheel 26 is journaled. It is also preferable to have arm 2lsupport an electric driving motor 28. The particular arm structure whichI have utilized in this instance consists of a frame 29 within which thehousing of motor 28 is mounted. 35 Shafts 3| project from the end offrame 29, and are journaled by suitable bearing members 32, which inturn are mounted upon the side members 2| of the carriage I9. Grindwheel 26 is secured to the end of a rotatable shaft 33, and this 40shaft is journaled in a suitable bearing member 34. Bearing member 34 isrigidly connected to the housing of motor 28, by means of spaced members36. For driving the grind wheel 26, the shaft of motor 28 and shaft 33are provided 45 with pulley Wheels 31 and 38 respectively operablyengaged by a driving belt 39.

For providing precise adjustments of the arm structure 21, I preferablyprovide a worm gear 4I upon the end of said shaft 3|, and this gear 50is operably engaged by a worm 42. Worm 42 can be rotated by means ofhand wheel 43, so that by manual rotation of this Wheel, arm structure21 and thus grind wheel 26 can be raised or lowered any desired amount.55

Yis slightly less than the width of the desired slot 44.

The operator then moves carriage I9 to a position adjacent the railjoint to be slotted, and

the grind Wheel is adjusted to proper position by Y hand Wheel 43, tostart a slot across the joint as shown in Fig. 3. Carriage I 9 is movedmanually to gradually advance the grind wheel across the rails.Generally a single cut is suflicient to produce a slot of proper depth,although one or more additional cuts may be made if desired. If a jointupon the other side of the track is to be slotted, frame I need not bereversed, but the operator simply moves carriage I9 to the other side ofthe track, and then properly positions grind wheel 26 for making asimilar cut. It is to be noted that grind wheel 26 is normally locatedupon one side of the center line of carriage I9. Therefore for oneoperating position of the carriage, the carriage center line is withinthe rails, while for operating upon the other side of the track withoutreversing the position of the frame, the center line of the carriagemust fall outside the track. This is made possible with my apparatus, bymaking longitudinal frame I4 substantially longer than the gauge of thetrack as shown in Fig. 1, so that when carriage I9 is positioned withits center line outside of the track, it is practically supported. Theextension of longitudinal members I4 beyond both sides of However ifdesired other motive means, such as.

an internal combustion engine, can be employed.

I claim:

1. In a rail grinding apparatus, a frame adapt- I ed to rest upon therails of a railway track, a carriage slidably supported by said frameand adapted to be moved transversely of said track across the frame, anarm pivotally secured to the carriage and adapted to swing in asubstantially lvertical plane, a grind wheel journaled to said arm andadapted to rotate about an axis normal to said plane, whereby said wheelcan cut a transverse slot at a rail joint, a motor iixed to said arm',means operably connecting said motor to said grind wheel, and means foradjusting the position of said arm.

2. In a rail grinding apparatus, a frame adapted to span the rails of arailway track, said frame having a length substantially greater than thegauge of the track, a grind wheel, means including a carriage'movablymounted on said frame and serving to operably support the grind wheelwith the plane 'of the wheel substantially at right angles to the rails,said frame being of sufllcient length to permit shifting of the carriageto grind a transverse slot in either rail without reversing the positionof the frame.

ARION S. KALENBORN.

